Henry had to run to keep up with the Queen. She seemed to float over the floor rather than walk as she turned down hall after hall. Wall after wall of blue ice shimmered in the midday sun, but imparted no warmth to the scurrying boy. Fog formed from his panting breath and immediately froze.
The Snow Queen paused, turning inscrutable eyes on Henry.
"You are cold."
Henry had to bite back the urge to make a sarcastic comment as he stood shivering. He was Regina's son, after all.
The Queen waved her hand and a cloak appeared, made from the same shifting fabric as her dress. More gently than he would have given her credit for, she laid the cloak around his shoulders. Small hands grasped at the soft folds as he drew it around himself.
"W-where are we going?" But the Queen ignored his question.
"I am sorry I did not greet you sooner, Henry Mills. I had...business to attend to." She continued walking, but soon stopped at a black wall, considering it closely. She pressed one hand against the wall, and Henry felt more than heard a deep humming noise. It got louder and louder as he listened, seeming to come from within the ice itself. The black wall glowed and faded away, revealing a cavernous throne room.
"Come, boy." The Queen wrapped a clawed hand on Henry's should, guiding him to a chair next to the throne. All of the furniture in the room was made of ice, but a dirty fur pelt covered the chair - a stark contrast to the smooth, gleaming ice.
"What are you going to do with me?" Henry winced as his voice wavered. He was pretty sure heroes' voices never cracked.
"You are nothing. It is your mother I need."
Henry's eyes widened. "Emma? What about her?"
"No, not her. The Evil Queen, I believe you call her. I know her merely as Regina."
"Why?"
"Your questions tire me, boy, and my intentions are none of your concern."
"I'm not afraid of you. I know that only Emma can end my mom's curse, which means that only Emma can do anything to her. You're not even in the book!"
"Ah yes..." The Queen sank into the throne, running her fingernails over its mirrored surface. It produced a sharp sound, like nails on a chalkboard, and Henry yelped in surprise and pain, pressing his hands tightly against his ears.
"You have quite a remarkable book. I believe it tells you stories of this world, yes?"
"...yeah."
"Then I will give you a little hint. The way to save your family is contained in the pages of that book. All you need to do...is find it."
"But I've read it over and over! There's nothing there!"
"Why don't you try again?"
So Henry opened his book, and saw that several pages had been added since he last looked at it. He saw his mother and Emma following him through the cave, Regina rescuing Emma from the old witch, and their journey to the princess's castle. He read on, fat tears rolling down his face as he learned of his mother's imprisonment at the hands of the bandit, and silently cheering Emma's daring rescue.
Henry didn't even notice as the Queen swept out of the room, leaving him to read. The only sound was the soft rustle of paper as he turned page after page, looking for the answer that would send them home.
XxXx
The door banged loudly against the earthen wall of the hut as Emma raced through it, just barely catching sight of a dark figure disappearing into the woods. With a muttered curse, she took off after Regina.
After ten minutes, Emma had caught three branches with her face, tripped twice, her knee was bleeding, and she was still no closer to overtaking the Major. How does she move so fast?
Fwoosh!
Emma tucked and rolled, barely avoiding being set on fire as she stumbled suddenly into a clearing.
"Regina!"
But the other woman didn't even seem to notice her as she fired fireball after fireball at the helpless trees. Carefully, Emma crept up behind the other woman and trapped her in a bear-hug, pinning her arms to her sides so she wouldn't set them all on fire.
"Regina! Calm down!"
With her ability for wanton destruction taken away, Regina sagged in Emma's arms as she struggled to find another way to express her emotions. Finally, they seemed to get the better of her and a low, keening wail tore itself from he lips as tears fell over her reddened cheeks. She twisted in Emma's embrace and the blonde simply held her, not really sure what to do to comfort the sobbing woman. Eventually, Regina seemed to gain control over herself again and pulled back.
"I-I'm sorry, Emma. I don't know-"
But Emma wasn't paying attention, staring at Regina's hands instead. "You're burned..."
Regina glanced down at them in surprise - she hadn't even felt it - but waved it off. "It's nothing. If I use magic without the proper focus... it's nothing."
Emma just shook her head at the other woman's attempt to redirect her attention, taking Regina's hands in her own and gently kissing the wounded flesh.
Regina flinched, more out of shock than anything else. "What are you doing?"
Emma shrugged. She really didn't know why she had done it, either. "Um. Seemed like the thing to do?" She was ready for a caustic comment, but it never came. Just more proof that Regina wasn't herself, that she really hadn't been since Emma had rescued her from that damned dungeon.
"So, wanna tell me why you're out here trying to give Smoky the Bear a heart attack?"
Regina looked at Emma like she was crazy, but the Sheriff didn't really mind as long as she wasn't crying again.
"The old woman is right. There's nothing we can do against the dragon, much less the Snow Queen herself. Henry will be trapped here forever and it's all my fault."
"Hey." Emma gently took hold of Regina's chin, forcing her to look her in the eyes. "We can't give up now, not without trying. There's got to be a way to get around this dragon thing, and we will get Henry back. We've gotten this far together, what's a few more fucked up fairy tale creatures?"
Regina would have laughed, purely out of adrenaline, but the sobs were coming fast again, making her breath catch in her throat, choking her. Instead, she lashed out at Emma, pushing her away with such force that the blonde fell to the ground.
"Don't you understand? There is no happy ending for people like me! Not here, not in Storybrooke. I am the Evil Queen, dear...everything I touch is cursed..."
Emma sat up, studying Regina intently. "What did you give to the dragon?"
The question was so unexpected that Regina nearly stopped crying for a moment. "What?"
"Henry's book showed you giving something to the dragon. It's why he was in the cave. What was it?"
Regina sighed. "I gave it my heart."
"You what?"
Regina sat down on the ground next to Emma. Clearly this was going to require some explanation, an inevitability she had been dreading since they'd first set foot in this land.
"My mother was rather...difficult."
"She abused you." Emma looked at Regina with a sudden light of understanding, and Regina felt an unexplained surge of anger toward the woman. It was misplaced, she knew, so she swallowed the feeling and continued.
"There's no word for it here, but yes. She abused me. Nothing I did was ever good enough for her, and if I tried something she didn't approve of...she would punish me with magic."
"Your father?"
"There was nothing he could do, not that he ever tried. He loved me, but he was too afraid of her, of what she could do." She closed her eyes briefly, remembering. "She promised me in marriage to Snow White's father, but I was in love with a boy who worked in the stables. Daniel. We were going to run away together...we were going to be happy. Snow found out. I made her promise not to tell anyone, but she told my mother. She said - she said no one should lose their mother. So my mother found us. And she killed Daniel."
She heard Emma gasp, but she continued. It had been a very long time since she had talked to anyone about this and the words seemed rush out of her in a flood now that she had released them.
"The night before my marriage I was going to kill myself. I had it all planned; a knife, a note. Rumpelstiltskin came to me before I could go through with it. He offered me a deal. He said he could make it so that my heart would never break again, and in return I would owe him a favor." She snorted in derision. "That worked out well...He took me to the lair of the ice dragon. Dragons are natural hoarders, and this particular one had never been defeated or lost anything from his horde. Rumpelstiltskin reached into my chest and pulled out my heart. I gave it to the dragon to keep forever, so I could finally let go of the pain."
"Deals with Rumpelstiltskin are rarely what they seem. I would never have my heart broken because without it I could never feel love again. My hate consumed me. There was nothing left for me but revenge on the people who had taken away my only chance for a happy ending and imprisoned me in a castle, married to a man who was old enough to be my father. I assume the rest of the story is in Henry's book."
"Regina...I didn't know."
"Why would you?"
"And Henry? You can't love him?"
Regina sighed. "I thought it might be different with a child. That maybe the curse would only work for romantic love. I love him as much as I can – if I still had the ability, with all of my heart. I would do anything for him. I would die for him."
Emma drew Regina into her arms, weighing her next words carefully. She felt that she should tell Regina the truth, especially after all that Regina had just told her, but she was afraid of the reaction she might get. Emotional women were scary enough as it was, an emotional Regina was downright deadly. But she had to say something.
True to form, once she had made up her mind she blurted it all out in a rush. "Snowwhite'smymom!"
For a second she thought Regina hadn't heard her, and she was gathering her remaining courage to say it again. However, Regina simply looked up at her with a resigned expression on her face, but made no move to leave the circle of Emma's embrace.
"So it's you then. The White Knight arriving in a yellow VW bug to slay the Evil Queen and save the day. I thought I at least merited a horse."
"I'll see what I can do about trading her in for a Mustang." Emma joked, trying to relieve some of the tension. There was no corresponding smile on the Mayor's lips, and when Emma looked into her eyes, she found something there that she had never seen. She was used to those expressive brown eyes sparkling with malevolent intent, or narrowed in passionate anger, but now they were blank, dead. A chill slipped down her spine and she knew then which side she would chose.
"You're not the Evil Queen. And I'm not going to slay you."
Regina smiled, a cold quirk of her mouth. "You won't have a choice, dear. It's already been written."
Emma growled. "I knew I hated fairy tales for a reason. I'm not going to destroy you. We're going to go take care of a dragon, take your heart back, save Henry, and find a way back to Storybrooke. And then you are going to give me a very, very tall glass of apple cider." She pulled Regina with her to a standing position and dragged the other woman back though the woods. Regina let herself be led with little protest. It was hopeless, she knew; it would take a miracle for them to be able to best the dragon, much less the Snow Queen, but Emma seemed so sure, so confident...it was almost enough to make her believe.
A/N: So there's that. Not big on the action, I know, but it ties up some loose ends. There's only two more chapters left, you guys! I don't know what I'm going to do with myself when this is finished (yes I do, write more fanfiction :P). So let me know what you think, I hope it all made sense but if not, I can clear it up in the next couple of chapters. There are some things I purposefully left open, though, because they're part of the story. Review, review, review!
